As many of you know, neither Mo or I were able to make it to TravelCom this year...however both Travel Oregon and the Arizona Office of Tourism are well represented by Ashley Moran and Casey Ambrose respectively...so we want to hear about the experience from our readers.
What did you think of the conference?
How many times did you hear the word Web 2.0?
Did you learn anything new?
What did you feel was missing from the conference?
Are you sick of mobile yet?
How was the bar?
Is Chicago really that windy?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments field, we would love to hear from you.
Oh and be sure to tell everyone you see from TIA that you think Honolulu would be the perfect location for TravelCom in '09.
6 comments:
Not sure if Casey had the same experience but unfortunately Ashley from my team was one of the unfortunate souls caught up in the whole American Airlines cancellation. Both her flight to Chicago and FROM Chicago were insanely delayed; in fact, we're still trying to get her back home!
Hey Troy and Mo:
Sorry I missed you at TravelCom, I was looking forward to meeting you both. I did have the great fortune to meet Casey and she represented the 602 well.
I had good experience at TravelCom. Here are a few answers for you:
Didn't hear much Web 2.0 at all, social media was the overkill word -I learned that alot of people registered, like 1,000, and I did pick up a few nuggets of info. Time will tell which one was best - You guys were missing - There could have been more mobile. I even signed up for Twitter before I left in anticipation of a flurry of activity - Correction on the next Q, that should be "bars", I liked them all - It was very windy, rainy and damp, but Chicago is one of the few cities where all that could happen you will still have a great time!
I did a little wrap up/recap - http://www.daveserinoblogs.com/blog/2008/04/travelcom-08--.html
Take Care! Dave
I counted Web 2.0 twice, and once was in a conversation with a vendor. It was my first trip to both TravelCom and Chicago. Both were nicely done. I learned a bit from the conference but more from vendors on some cool new products out there. Branson was great to see speak.
TravelCom? It was ok. Didn't get to meet Casey or Ashley (I too was on American Airlines - arrived home at 3:30am but at least I am home). The best sessions - for me - were on Thursday. Suzie Rider from YouTube followed by Eric Pearson from InterContinental. Eric discussed protecting your brand and customers from search (or find). The panel discussion that followed included Google, Expedia, Marriott, Orbitz and Starwood. They basically ganged up on Google for issues revolving around keyword purchase of companies brand names. This is nothing new but the arguments against this practice and having the Search engines instituting better policies restricting this are getting stronger.
Web 2.0? Not so much
Learn anything new? - I think there were more reminders of things that I have read and heard before and that I need to act upon. That is definitely a good thing.
Mobile? Yes, totally sick of mobile as we all have to pick and choose with limited budgets and mobile is not on my short list at this point.
Chicago? About what I expected.
Travelcom was worth the trip to the Windy City. I went to the conference 2 years ago in NYC and thought this year's was much better.
The word used the most was "engaging." Social Media was the most covered topic.
My favorite sessions were Rider from YouTube and Yahoo's social media luncheon. It was also great to hear Branson speak.
Thankfully, I wasn't flying American!
I enjoyed my time at TravelCom, but I think the experience would have been a little better without the airline debacle. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to meet you all- I didn't arrive in Chicago until 7am on Wednesday morning.
I found Jeffery Boyd's (Priceline) presentation on the future of the online travel industry interesting, and of course it was great to hear Richard Branson (oh the irony of a presentation on quality airline service!) Other than that, Chicago was definitely windy and rainy, and I'll have to check out the bars next time :)
-Ashley
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